A silver figure of Tara on a bronze throne

CENTRAL JAVA, LATE 9TH CENTURY

Details

A silver figure of Tara on a bronze throne
Central Java, late 9th Century
Seated in vajraparyankasana on a bronze pedestal with double-lotus base, the hands forming a variant of the dharmachakrapravartanamudra, the gesture of setting the wheel of law into motion, wearing a long dhoti, beaded necklace and foliate armlets, her hair arranged in an elaborate topknot, flanked by a lotus to her left bearing a book as an attribute, the arched throne back with a flaming border surmounted by a parasol and gold finial set with a cabochon sapphire
7 in. (19.5 cm.) high

Literature

Spink, Visions of the Orient, 1995, cat. no. 7.

Lot Essay

For another silver sculpture of a seated Tara, from the Eilenberg Collection, see M. Lerner and S. Kossak, The Lotus Transcendent, Indian and Southeast Asian Art from the Samuel Eilenberg Collection, 1991, cat. no. 141; for a discussion of the unusual hand gesture, see Lerner and Kossak, cat. no. 138, p. 177.